Texas Democrat Al Green has introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, potentially forcing a vote this week on whether to remove the president from office.
The vote would come too soon for most Democrats, as a majority of the caucus appears to oppose impeachment for now.
But Green is seeking to capitalize on a growing sentiment for impeachment in the wake of Trump’s ‘racist’ tweets about four female Democrats over the weekend.
Texas Republican Al Green, (left), has introduced articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, (right), potentially forcing a vote this week on whether to remove him
Green introduced the measure shortly after the House voted to condemn Trump for tweets that four Democratic congresswomen, who are Americans, should ‘go back’ to their home countries.
Tuesday’s vote was 240-187 and was solidly opposed by Republicans. It came after Trump and top congressional Republicans denied he is a racist and urged GOP lawmakers to oppose the Democratic measure.
Green said Tuesday that Trump is unfit for office and ‘enough is enough.’
Any member of the House can force an impeachment vote. Green has done so twice before, unsuccessfully.
In the House, Green said: ‘Donald John Trump has, by his statements, brought the high office of the President of the United States in contempt, ridicule, disgrace and disrepute, has sown discord among the people of the United States, has demonstrated that he is unfit to be President.
‘And [he] has betrayed his trust as President of the United States to the manifest injury of the people of the United States, and has committed a high misdemeanor in office,’ Green read from his resolution on the House floor on Tuesday night.
Green introduced the measure shortly after the House voted to condemn Trump for tweets that four Democratic congresswomen should ‘go back’ to their home countries
Four Republicans and Justin Amash, the Republican lawmaker turned Independent, voted with Democrats to condemn the president
He added: ‘Therefore, Donald John Trump, by causing such harm to the society of the United States, is unfit to be president and warrants impeachment, trial and removal from office.’
But the presiding House officer said a determination would be made on his resolution at the appropriate time, which is a way for Democratic leadership to stall on the matter.
‘I believe we must check him now or we might find somebody harmed,’ Green later said on MSNBC Tuesday evening.
Leadership essentially has three options on Green’s resolution: table the impeachment articles, which could put them under fire from liberals; refer them to the House Judiciary Committee; or allow the vote to proceed.
Green also tried to force a vote on impeaching Trump in 2017 but only 58 Democrats supported his move.
He said informed Democratic leadership that he planned to introduce his resolution Tuesday, adding that he understood that it could be a tough vote for his colleagues but that still would not deter him.
‘I believe if we don’t do this, the President will only intensify his ugly behavior,’ Green told CNN.
US Representatives Ayanna Pressley, (far right), speaks as, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar (left), Rashida Tlaib , (left), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (center) Rashida Tlaib, (right), hold a press conference to address remarks made by US President Donald Trump
Trump claimed Democratic Congresswoman should go back to the ‘totally broken place from which they came’ in a bid to fix the United States
House of Representatives so that we could not only condemn him, but impeach him so that he will understand that there are some boundaries.’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters that it would be up to Democratic leadership to consider an impeachment vote.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer claimed leadership had not yet discussed the issue before adding, ‘I haven’t talked to him about it, and I know he feels strongly about it.’
Green also said he was citing Trump’s past comments and actions on race and immigration.
He said this included calling asylum speakers ‘invaders’ and saying there were ‘very fine people on both sides’ after the white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
Trump has not let up on his criticism of the four lawmakers who make up the ‘squad’ – Reps. Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley – despite accusations his remarks were racist and even as some Republicans warned him to focus on the liberal lawmakers’ policies and not on the personal.
The resolution condemns him for saying the four should go ‘back where they came from.’ All the lawmakers but Omar were born in the United States.
US speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, (center), walks with reporters, before the Democrat controlled House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Trump for his ‘racist comments’
Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Tuesday
Trump has defended himself as he continues to slam the members of Congress.
‘Those Tweets were NOT Racist,’ the president wrote on Twitter earlier Tuesday. ‘I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!’
Trump also expressed his fury about an upcoming vote in the House to condemn his tweets, calling it a ‘con game’ that will backfire on Democrats as their party is linked more closely with the lawmakers who make up the ‘squad.’
‘The so-called vote to be taken is a Democrat con game. Republicans should not show ‘weakness’ and fall into their trap,’ he warned on Twitter.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says President Donald Trump is ‘not a racist’ after Trump tweeted over the weekend that four congresswomen of color should return to their native countries. All of the congresswomen are American citizens.
McConnell said at a news conference Tuesday that political rhetoric has gotten ‘way, way overheated across the political spectrum.’ He pointed to Democratic comments, saying ‘we’ve seen the far left throw accusations of racism at everyone.’
He also took a mild swipe at Trump, saying everyone ‘from the president to the speaker to the freshmen members of the House’ should take a lesson from the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who said he attacked ideas, not people.
Pressed by reporters as to whether he thought the president is a racist, McConnell said: ‘the president is not a racist.’